In a typical billing system, various billing processes are executed to generate billing statements. The billing processes range from collecting billing information to printing billing statements. The collection of billing processes and data associated therewith constitutes a billing cycle that is executed on the billing system.
The billing processes in a billing cycle are often interrelated and interdependent. As a result, one billing process may be prevented from starting until another billing process has completed. Consequently, a delay in the completion of one billing process may cause a chain reaction of delays in other billing processes, which may ultimately delay the completion of the billing cycle. Because of the potential impact on the billing cycle, the billing processes are typically monitored to identify problems that could delay the completion of the billing processes.
The monitoring of billing processes in a billing cycle is often subjective and can result in misidentification of problems in the billing processes. Additionally, the problems identified in the billing processes are not always effectively communicated in a timely manner to the managers of the billing processes. Furthermore, the monitoring of billing processes in existing systems is often performed on an ad hoc, piecemeal basis, which may entail gathering necessary data from several sources, both internal and external to the billing enterprise. Accordingly, there exists a need to accurately identify problems in the billing processes in a billing cycle and to effectively communicate the problems to managers of the billing processes in a timely manner.